Warming Temperatures Are Pushing Two Chickadee Species—and Their Hybrids—Northward

The zone of overlap between two popular, closely related backyard birds is moving northward at a rate that matches warming winter temperatures, according to a study by researchers from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Villanova University, and Cornell University. The research was published in Current Biologyon Thursday, March 6, 2014.

In a narrow strip that runs across the eastern U.S., Carolina Chickadees from the south meet and interbreed with Black-capped Chickadees from the north. The new study finds that this hybrid zone has moved northward at a rate of 0.7 mile per year over the last decade. That’s fast enough that the researchers had to add an extra study site partway through their project in order to keep up.

“A lot of the time climate change doesn’t really seem tangible,” said lead author Scott Taylor, a postdoctoral researcher at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “But here are these common little backyard birds we all grew up with, and we’re seeing them moving northward on relatively short time scales.”

The two chickadee species meet and hybridize in a narrow zone that has shifted northward 7 miles in the last decade.

In Pennsylvania, where the study was conducted, the hybrid zone is just 21 miles across on average. Hybrid chickadees have lower breeding success and survival than either of the pure species. This keeps the contact zone small and well defined, making it a convenient reference point for scientists aiming to track environmental changes.

“Hybridization is kind of a brick wall between these two species,” said Robert Curry, a professor of biology at Villanova University, who led the field component of the study. “Carolina Chickadees can’t blithely disperse north without running into black-caps and creating hybrids. That makes it possible to keep an eye on the hybrid zone and see exactly how the ranges are shifting.”

The researchers drew on field studies, genetic analyses, and crowdsourced bird sightings. First, detailed observations and banding data from sites arrayed across the hybrid zone provided a basic record of how quickly the zone moved. Next, genetic analyses revealed in unprecedented detail the degree to which hybrids shared the DNA of both parent species. And then crowdsourced data drawn from eBird, a citizen-science project run by the Cornell Lab, allowed the researchers to expand the scale of the study and match bird observations with winter temperatures.

The researchers analyzed blood samples from 167 chickadees—83 collected in 2000–2002 and 84 in 2010–2012. Using next-generation genetic sequencing, they looked at more than 1,400 fragments of the birds’ genomes to see how much was Black-capped Chickadee DNA and how much was Carolina.

The site that had been in the middle of the hybrid zone at the start of the study was almost pure Carolina Chickadees by the end. The next site to the north, which Curry and his students had originally picked as a stronghold of Black-capped Chickadees, had become dominated by hybrids.

Female Carolina Chickadees seem to be leading the charge, Curry said. Field observations show that females move on average about 0.6 mile between where they’re born and where they settle down. That’s about twice as far as males and almost exactly as fast as the hybrid zone is moving.

As a final step, the researchers overlaid temperature records on a map of the region of overlap between the two species, created from eBird sightings. They found a very close match: the zone of overlap occurred only in areas where the average winter low temperature was between 14 and 20 degrees Fahrenheit. They also used eBird records to estimate where the overlap zone had been a decade earlier, and found the same relationship with temperature existed then, too. The only difference was that those temperatures had shifted to the north by about seven miles since 2000.

Chickadees—there are seven species in North America—are fixtures in most of the backyards of the continent. These tiny, fluffy birds with bold black-and-white faces are favorite year-round visitors to bird feeders, somehow surviving cold winters despite weighing less than half an ounce.

To the untrained eye the Carolina Chickadee of the southeastern U.S. is almost identical to the more northern Black-capped Chickadee—although the Carolina has a shorter tail, less white on its shoulders, and a song of four notes instead of two notes. Genetic research indicates the two have been distinct species for at least 2.5 million years.

“The rapidity with which these changes are happening is a big deal,” Taylor said. “If we can see it happening with chickadees, which are pretty mobile, we should think more closely about what’s happening to other species. Small mammals, insects, and definitely plants are probably feeling these same pressures—they’re just not as able to move in response.”

In addition to Taylor and Curry, the authors include Thomas White of Cornell University, Valentina Ferretti of Villanova University, and Wesley Hochachka and Irby Lovette of the Cornell Lab.

I’m from Central Texas but currently I live in Port Alexander, Alaska. I’m new to bird watching and thoroughly enjoy our noisy Black-cap Chickadees who crowd, flit and are quite bossy. From my Alaska bird book I know that these hearty little birds thrive in these cold climes. What I think is quite unusual in this cold climate are the Eurasian Doves that are now living here. A pair of these beautiful doves are frequent visitors to our feeder and I’m told that we now have at least 5 Eurasian Doves in Port Alexander. I couldn’t believe my ears when I first heard the ‘coo’ but by golly … They’re here in Alaska!

We live in the overlap zone in the Sourland Mountain area of NJ. When we first moved here from Canada 30 years ago, almost all the chickadees visiting our feeders were black-capped, with black-capped calls and songs. Very occasionally we’d hear a Carolina song, but that was the exception, and, being used to seeing the black-capped after our years in Canada, the Carolinas’ smaller size was apparent . Now the balance in our back yard has clearly shifted, with Carolinas and/or hybrids predominating. Rarely do we see a bird that is clearly a black-capped. The songs have changed too … the two-note song of the black-capped is the more uncommon one now. We hear many three-note songs, or four note songs with the “wrong” notes for a Carolina. There is a banding station about a mile from our house that now categorizes many if not most of its chickadee captures as chickadee sp. only.

We’ve had a unusually cold, snowy and icy winter here this year; I actually have noticed a decline in the number of chickadees visiting the feeder. I’m wondering if this winter gave the few remaining black-capped in the area a (probably temporary) survival boost.

I am surprised to read this article where Carolina chickadees are only supposed to be in the south. I have noticed a difference between chickadees at my feeder near Alliston Ontario for 4 years of our residence there. There ar some chickadees that ar a little smaller and ‘tidier’ . The bib is shorter and more defined at the lower edge and the breast feathers meeting the big are whiter as well. When I consulted my bird book, I noted that Carolina chickadees were in our area and suited what I saw. This is a 30 year old book. I determined that these were the Carolinas. the black capped chickadees appear to have a rusty tinge and a dirty white below the raggedy edge black bib.
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